2.

Capitalization, Abbreviations, and Indentation

Capitalization is to write the first letter of a word with a capital letter (uppercase) and the
remaining letters in lowercase.
English capitalization basic rules:
 The pronoun “I”: My sister and I watch TV.
 The first letter of a sentence: My name is Fernanda.
 Names and Titles: This is Mr. Jones.
 Cities and Countries: I live in Bogotá, Colombia.
 Nationalities and Languages: I am Brazilian, and I speak Portuguese.
 Days / Months / Holidays: Today is Sunday, February 14th. It’s Valentine’s Day!
Abbreviations are any shortened form of a word. Two common types of abbreviations
are acronyms and initialisms.
An acronym is an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words.
You can pronounce it as a word.
 NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
 PIN (Personal Identification Number)
 LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation)
An initialism is an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words.
You cannot pronounce it as a word.
 DIY (Do It Yourself)
 USA (United States of America)
 DVD (Digital Versatile Disk)
You can form other abbreviations by removing a few letters of a single word.
 Titles: Mr. Jones (Mister) / Dr. Gonzalez (Doctor)
 Times / Dates: 10 am (ante meridiem) / **Jan. **(January) / Mon. (Monday)
 Places: 5th Ave.*(Avenue) / Main St(Street)
 Units of measurement: 20 g(grams) / 80 oz (ounces)
Be careful!
These abbreviations are only for writing. Say the complete word when speaking. Also,
the punctuation may vary when using American English and British English:
American English: abbreviations always finish with a period (Mr. / Dr. / Mon. / etc.).
British English: abbreviations only finish with a period when they do not end with the
same letter of the original word (Mr / Dr / Mon. / etc.).
When writing a paragraph, it is necessary to pay attention to its format. There are two
formats you can use:
 First-line Indent: start your writing further away from the edge of the paper. It
creates a faster and also linear experience for the reader. It is common in fiction,
narrative, biography, and scholarly publications.
 Block: start your writing at the edge of the paper and use a margin of white
space between paragraphs. In this way, the reader understands there is a new
paragraph. It creates an idea of specific information in each paragraph. It is
common in business guides and technical manuals.
3. Punctuation
It is crucial to understand the correct use of punctuation if you want to write
more clearly. Also, to create sense and stress in sentences and to organize
your writing. At least one of the punctuation marks has to appear in every
sentence.
It is easier to understand the importance of punctuation when reading a
paragraph without any punctuation marks.

Every morning I wake up at 8 am the first thing I do is brush my teeth and right
after that I take a shower next I dress up and I put on some makeup then I go
to the kitchen and I prepare my breakfast breakfast is my favorite meal
because I love pancakes waffles scrambled eggs toast with jam coffee and
orange juice after I eat I brush my teeth again and I leave for work I always
read a book on the bus right now I am reading The Great Gatsby and it is
better than the movie usually I work until 6 pm and I go home after that

Now read the same paragraph with the correct use of punctuation and
notice the difference:

Every morning I wake up at 8 am. The first thing I do is brush my teeth, and
right after that, I take a shower. Next, I dress up, and I put on some makeup.
Then, I go to the kitchen, and I prepare my breakfast. Breakfast is my favorite
meal because I love pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, toast with jam,
coffee, and orange juice. After I eat, I brush my teeth again, and I leave for
work. I always read a book on the bus. Right now, I am reading “The Great
Gatsby” (and it is better than the movie!). Usually, I work until 6 pm, and I go
home after that.

PUNCTUATION MARKS
SYMBOL NAME USE EXAMPLE
Placed at the end of a
Period or Full- I study English. He is Mr.
. sentence and many
stop Perez.
abbreviations.
Are you hungry? Where
? Question mark Indicates a question.
do you live?
Exclamation Adds emphasis and
! Help! That’s amazing!
point expresses surprise.
SYMBOL NAME USE EXAMPLE
Shows separation of
I want to eat pizza,
, Comma ideas, lists of elements,
hotdogs, and ice cream.
and sentences.
Indicates a direct
, Comma John, can you come here?
address.
Used to enclose My friend, Marie, is
, Comma
details. French.
Connects independent He likes you; you are a
; Semicolon
clauses. good person.
Last year I visited
Separates items in lists Salvador, Brazil; Lima,
; Semicolon
that contain commas. Peru; and Cancun,
Mexico.
Introduces a quotation,
They play different styles:
: Colon an explanation, an
jazz, blues, R&B, and pop.
example, or a series.
Between independent
clauses, when the I am moving to Japan: I
: Colon
second explains the was offered a job there.
first.
You have one option: do
: Colon For emphasis.
it.
Can be used in place of
Dash em dash a comma, parentheses, My friend — Marie — is
— or –
— en dash – colon, or brackets (em French.
dash)
Dash em dash Indicates a range or I played basketball there
— or –
— en dash – connections (en dash). from January – March.
Joins two or more
Tomorrow I’ll meet my
- Hyphen words together into a
brother-in-law.
compound term.
SYMBOL NAME USE EXAMPLE
Cannot be separated There are twenty-two
- Hyphen
by spaces. students here.
Brackets or
Her cousin [Laura] worked
[] Square To clarify meaning.
with me.
Brackets
Brackets or To add an editorial
He hate[s] cleaning the
[] Square comment or missing
house.
Brackets words or letters.
Brackets or Next month I am visiting
[] Square To add information. two cities in Spain [Madrid
Brackets and Barcelona].
To contain two or more I’m going to the
Braces or Curly listed items that are supermarket to buy cereal,
{}
Brackets considered as a unit. eggs, and fruits {bananas,
Not common in writing. apples, oranges}.
Parentheses or To contain further I was watching Friends
()
Round Brackets thoughts or remarks. (my favorite TV show).
Parentheses or My friend (Marie) is
() To exemplify or clarify.
Round Brackets French.
Parentheses or To define MBA (Master of Business
()
Round Brackets abbreviations. Administration).
Parentheses or To indicate plural and Please write the name(s)
()
Round Brackets singular. of your guest(s).
Indicates omission of a
’ Apostrophe letter or letters from a ‘Cause he’s tired.
word (contractions).
We are going to our
’ Apostrophe Possessive case.
mother’s house.
Plural of lowercase My keyboard is broken, I
’ Apostrophe
letters. cannot type any o’s.
SYMBOL NAME USE EXAMPLE
Marks the beginning
and end of a passage,
“ ” or ‘ ’ Quotation mark “Don’t go there!”, he said.
when repeated word by
word.
Indicates meaning and
the unusual (or What do you mean by
“ ” or ‘ ’ Quotation mark
dubious) status of a “crazy”?
word.
To cite titles or
I read “Romeo and Juliet”
“ ” or ‘ ’ Quotation mark bibliographic
for my literature class.
references.
Single quotation marks She told me, “I read
“ ” or ‘ ’ Quotation mark are used for quotes ‘Romeo and Juliet’ for my
within quotes. literature class.”
Indicates an omission Let’s count to ten: one,
… Ellipsis
of letters or words. two, three…
Slash, Forward Please press your
/ Slash, Virgule, Shows alternatives. browser’s Refresh/Reload
or Oblique button.
Slash, Forward
Replaces the word
/ Slash, Virgule, 100 km/hour
“per”.
or Oblique
Slash, Forward
/ Slash, Virgule, Fractions. ½ pound
or Oblique
Slash, Forward Twinkle, twinkle, little
Separates lines in a
/ Slash, Virgule, star, / How I wonder what
song or poem.
or Oblique you are.
Slash, Forward
Internet websites or
/ Slash, Virgule, https://platzi.com/
computer programs.
or Oblique
4. Prewriting
The writing process starts when you decide what you want to communicate, why it is
relevant, and who is the audience of your writing. There are five simples steps you can
follow that will help your writing process to be more effective:
1. Prewriting: explore possible topics, choose one, and collect ideas.
2. Drafting: put all your ideas down on paper.
3. Revising: read your draft and improve its form and content. You can add,
remove, and change words. You can also rearrange the sentences.
4. Editing / Proof writing: fix all the errors in grammar, spelling, capitalization, and
punctuation.
5. Publishing: present your writing to an audience.

5. Parts of speech
The parts of speech are the categories of the words in traditional English
grammar. We can divide them into eight main groups (or nine, if you count
determiners): nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions,
conjunctions, and interjections.
The following chart contains the parts of speech, their functions, and some
examples of words and sentences.
PARTS OF SPEECH
PART OF
FUNCTION EXAMPLE EXAMPLE
SPEECH
Daniel lives in
Daniel / New York /
Names, places, New York. He
NOUN dog / notebook /
things, or ideas. likes to listen to
music
music.
Daniel lives in
I / she / they / him /
Replaces nouns New York. He
PRONOUN them / who / some /
and other pronouns. likes to listen to
this
music.
Action or state of be / go / eat / work / Daniel lives in
being. It tells what play / like / study / New York. He
VERB
happens in the write / read / speak / likes to listen to
sentence. watch / listen / live music.
 PART OF
FUNCTION EXAMPLE EXAMPLE
SPEECH
Describes,
hot / nice / big /
modifies, or gives
wrong / intelligent / I have a nice car.
ADJECTIVE information about
beautiful / smart / Mark is intelligent.
nouns and
interesting
pronouns.
Describes verbs, happily / quickly / They always
ADVERB adjectives, or other well / often / really / watch tv. You sing
adverbs. very / always / too very well!
Links a noun or to / for / but / in / on /
The pen is under
pronoun to other at / up / over / from /
PREPOSITION the table. I go
words in the under / of / with /
there on Friday.
sentence. about / near
Connects words, I drink coffee and
for / and / but / or /
clauses, phrases, tea. He likes blue,
CONJUNCTION yet / with / is / as…
and ideas in a but he doesn’t like
as / because / while
sentence. green.
oh / wow / ouch /
Expresses strong Wow! That’s
aha / gosh / well /
INTERJECTION emotions or beautiful. Ouch! It
phew / whoops /
reactions. hurts.
hooray

There is a discussion about determiners being a part of speech since they

have similar functions to adjectives, articles, and pronouns. There are four
types of determiners in English: articles, demonstratives, quantifiers, and
possessives.

DETERMINER
Specifies and identifies nouns and pronouns.
that / those / some / few / such / the / a / an
The dog is barking.
I have some oranges.
As we saw with the determiners, many words in English have more than one
job. For example, “close” can be a verb, a noun, an adjective, and even an
adverb. The spelling is the same, but the meanings are different.

 VERB: Can you please close the door?

 NOUN: It came to a close.
 ADJECTIVE: We are close friends.
 ADVERB: Don’t be so close to each other.
It is crucial to understand the parts of speech, so you define the exact word
order and the correct use of punctuation in a sentence.
Now, try to write sentences using as many parts of speech as you can. Here
is an example:
Oh, he and his old dog walked to the park slowly.
Interj. Pron. Conj. Det. Adj. Noun Verb Prep. Det. Noun Adv.

6. Types of Sentences
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a sentence is “A group of words,
usually containing a verb, that expresses a thought in the form of a statement, question,
instruction, or exclamation and starts with a capital letter when written.”
We can say that a sentence is a word or a group of words that express a complete
thought. There are four types of sentences:
 Declarative (statement): Tells us something, gives some information.
-I like chocolate.
-I don’t like chocolate.
 Imperative (command): Tells us to do something. It normally does not have a
subject, because it is understood, the subject is you.
-Eat.
-Don’t eat!
 Interrogative (question): Asks us something, wants some information.
-Don’t you like chocolate?
-Where is your house?
 Exclamative (exclamation): Expresses emotion or surprise.
-What a surprise!
-How nice!

7. Combining Sentences
Both independent and dependent clauses are groups of words that contain a subject
and a verb. The difference is that an independent clause expresses a complete thought
and a dependent clause does not. So, an independent clause can stand alone as a
sentence.
There are four different sentence structures: simple, compound, complex, and
compound-complex.
 1. Simple: one independent clause.
 Lisa is my neighbor.
2. Compound: two or more independent clauses.
 Lisa is my neighbor, and she is my friend.
3. Complex: one independent clause, one or more dependent clauses.
 I am her friend because she is adorable.
4. Compound-complex: two or more independent clauses, one or more dependent
clauses.
 I am her friend because she is adorable, so we are always together.
We are going to work with the two first ones: SIMPLE and COMPOUND. We can
combine two independent clauses using a period, a semicolon, or coordinating
conjunctions. It is necessary to do it so you can avoid run-on sentences.
 Period: We have a new student. He is from Italy.
 Semicolon: We have a new student; he is from Italy.
 Coordinating conjunction: We have a new student, and he is from Italy.
A coordinating conjunction is a word that joins two elements: two verbs, two adjectives,
two phrases, two independent clauses, and so on. They are used to make the ideas
sound more fluent.
When using them to join two independent clauses, use a comma before the conjunction.
It is easier to remember all the coordinating conjunctions with the
acronym FANBOYS (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, and So).

8. Connectors
Connectors are linking words used to connect words or phrases. There are many
different connectors in English, and we can classify them into different categories:
addition, cause/effect, comparison, conclusion, contrast, emphasis, illustration, time/
sequence, etc.
We separate the categories according to their use:
CATEGORY USE EXAMPLE
Adds one phrase to another,
I have coffee and pancakes for
ADDITION gives extra information, or
breakfast. Additionally, I eat fruits.
introduces additional ideas.
Explains the reason for I don’t like to study very much. For
CAUSE AND
something and the consequence this reason, I always fail my
EFFECT
of an action. exams.
I think hotdogs are good.
COMPARISON Compares ideas. Likewise, I think hamburgers are
good.
CONCLUSION Concludes ideas. In conclusion, nobody is perfect.
I love watching movies. However,
CONTRAST Links two contrasting ideas.
I don’t like watching TV shows.
I love watching movies, especially
EMPHASIS Emphasizes ideas.
dramas.
ILLUSTRATION Exemplifies something. I can play different musical
 CATEGORY USE EXAMPLE
instruments, for example, the
guitar, the piano, and the bass.
Links actions that happened at
TIME AND First, brush your teeth. Then, go
the same time and indicates the
SEQUENCE to bed.
order of the events.

9. Parallel structure
We should use a parallel structure to make your writing more effective. Be sure that all
the items are in the same grammatical form when writing a series of words or phrases in
a sentence. You may use a parallel structure in different situations:
Verbs: the form of the verb needs to be the same.
 WRONG: I like eating pizza, listening to music, and to play soccer.
 CORRECT: I like eating pizza, listening to music, and playing soccer.
Verb + noun: some nouns ask for specific verbs.
 WRONG: They read books and music.
 CORRECT: They read books and listen to music.
Noun number: agree singular, plural, countable, and uncountable.
 WRONG: They sell pineapples, oranges, and an apple in the supermarket.
 CORRECT: They sell pineapples, oranges, and apples in the supermarket.
Subject matter: everything discussed in the sentence should be related, so the
connection is clear to the reader.
 WRONG: I finished my project, and I ate cake.
 CORRECT: I finished my project, and I ate cake to celebrate.
Punctuation: when writing lists or series.
 WRONG: My cousin traveled to Bogotá, Colombia, New York, USA; and
Barcelona, Spain
 CORRECT: My cousin traveled to Bogotá, Colombia; New York, USA; and
Barcelona, Spain.

10. Paragraph Structure

A paragraph has different layers of sentences. They are divided into three parts:
1. TOPIC SENTENCE: the topic you are going to talk about.
2. SUPPORT SENTENCES: a more detailed explanation of the topic.
3. CONCLUDING SENTENCE: the closure of your paragraph.

11. Topic Sentence

The topic sentence is the most important part of your paragraph. It is often the very first
sentence. It has to be clear and to express the main idea.
Be careful!
There are many common mistakes you can make when creating a topic sentence. You
should avoid the use of:
  Facts
When you use facts, it is hard to develop the topic further since it is too specific.
 Too general idea
It is also hard to continue your idea if you have too many things to talk about in
only one paragraph.
 Announcing the topic
Go straight to the topic. You do not need to announce everything you are going
to write about.
An example of a TOPIC SENTENCE:
I love bananas because they are convenient, delicious, and nutritious.

13. Concluding Sentence

The last part of our paragraph structure is the conclusion. There are different types of
conclusions: a summary, a final thought, a personal opinion, or a bridge between
paragraphs.
Be careful!
Do not add more information to the conclusion. If you need to add more information, you
should do it by adding another support sentence. This final part of the paragraph shows
to your reader that the topic is over.
Checklist:
 Clear topic sentence
 Supporting sentences relate to the topic
 Sentences connect
 Concluding without new information
The complete paragraph:
I love bananas because they are convenient, delicious, and nutritious. First, they
are easy to eat. I can peel the banana, eat it, and throw the peel in the garbage.
Additionally, I can eat bananas with cereal, other fruits, and ice cream. I can also
eat it fried, and it tastes great every time. Finally, they contain fiber, potassium,
and vitamins, so they are very healthy. Overall, I believe you should eat bananas
every day.

14. Personal Profile

Remember the first stage of the writing process: identify your audience and the purpose
of your writing. Your profile can be a bio for your Twitter or Instagram account or a
job/college application. Consider this before starting writing since all the details should
be relevant, informative, and appropriate.
When you do not know what to write, the easiest way is to start answering basic
questions about yourself. You can use the answers to create the body of your text. Here
are some examples of questions you can try to answer:
 What is your name / last name?
 Do you have a nickname? What is it?
 Where are you from?
  Where do you live?
 How old are you?
 When is your birthday?
 What do you study?
 What is your occupation?
 What languages do you speak?
 What is your favorite color?
 Are you single or married?
 Do you have kids? How many?
 Do you have pets? How many?
 Do you have brothers or sisters? How many?
 What are your hobbies?
 What do you usually do in your free time?
 What is your favorite food? Why?
Example of a personal profile:
My name is Leonardo, but my friends call me Leo. I am from the United States, and I
live in New York City, so I speak English. I am 15 years old, and my birthday is on May
15th.
I did not say before, but I am a turtle, a ninja turtle. For this reason, I believe my favorite
color is green, and I love my Ninjutsu classes. I like to practice my fight skills, for I fight
the enemies every day.
I am single, and I do not have kids. I usually spend my time with my three brothers
(Rafael, Donatello, and Michelangelo) and my pet Splinter. I like to watch tv in my free
time, and my brothers and I always eat pizza at night.

15. Describing
PART OF
FUNCTION EXAMPLE EXAMPLE
SPEECH
Describes, modifies, or hot / nice / big / wrong /
I have a nice car.
ADJECTIVE gives information about intelligent / beautiful /
Mark is intelligent.
nouns and pronouns. smart / interesting
To describe people, you can talk about their age, occupation, family, hobbies, and use
some adjectives to describe their nationality, personality, and physical appearance.
To describe places, you can talk about things to do there, sites to visit, and use
adjectives to describe the weather and other details. If you are writing about your home,
you can also talk about the rooms, furniture, and services nearby.
Example 1 (Describing a person)
My sister is my favorite person because she is intelligent, a good friend, and beautiful.
First of all, she was always smart and ambitious, and she studied to become a doctor.
For this reason, I believe she is a great person. Additionally, she is funny and a fantastic
company in every situation. She likes to watch horror movies and practice yoga. Also,
she is pretty, not only outside. She has brown hair and brown eyes, and she is fit and
short, just like me! To sum up, she is an amazing person.
Example 2 (Describing a place)
I love living in Bogotá since it is cosmopolitan, you have many things to do there, and it
has the perfect weather. To begin with, you can find an impressive diversity of people
and cultures because people from different countries go to Bogotá. Moreover, it is the
biggest city in Colombia. It is enormous, and there are many touristic places to visit. For
example, in Monserrate Hill, you can see the entire city, and it is magical, but it is
crowded on weekends. Besides, it is never hot! It is sunny during the day and cool and
windy at night. I believe it is winter every day there. I love it! Overall, I want to live there
for many more years.

16. A Day in My Life

We can describe a routine as the tasks and activities we typically do. We usually have a
similar schedule every day, so we are used to doing things at the same time daily.
When you write about a routine, it is not necessary to mention the exact time you do
every single thing. However, it is important to show your reader the order of the actions.
You can do that by using connectors.
There are things we do every day, others just sometimes, and some we never do. It is
common to use adverbs of frequency to express the frequency we do things. The
Adverbs of Frequency are adverbs of time. There are many different adverbs of
frequency, but for now, we can use the more common ones: always, usually,
sometimes, hardly ever, and never.
Be careful!
The order of the sentence changes depending on the verb used. They go before the
main verb, except for the verb be. In this case, they go after the verb:
SUBJECT ADVERB MAIN VERB MAIN VERB
I always eat fruits.
SUBJECT VERB BE ADVERB ADVERB
I am always hungry.
Example of a routine:
I have a similar routine every day. Every morning I wake up at 8 am. The first thing I do
is brush my teeth, and right after that, I take a shower. Next, I dress up, and I put on
some makeup. Then, I go to the kitchen, and I prepare my breakfast. After I eat, I brush
my teeth again, and I leave for work. I always listen to music on the bus. I usually work
until 6 pm, and I go home after that. I go jogging three times a week, and I play video
games sometimes. Finally, I go to bed at 11 o’clock.

17. Informal Email

As the name says, we write an informal email in informal situations. You write an
informal email to a friend or a relative, but you can also do it at work if it is to a person
you are close to, and the message does not require any formal writing.
It is common to use contractions in this situation since it is a friendly message.
The informal email has a simple structure:
 Beginning: the greeting and your opening statement.
 Middle: here you can tell your news and talk about your plans.
 End: the closing message and your first name.

18. Formal Email

We write a formal email in more formal situations. You write a formal email when the
message requires formality: when we exchange emails at work, apply for a job, or when
the email is to a person you do not know.
Different from an informal email, you should not use contractions. Also, the vocabulary
needs to agree with the type of message you want to convey.
The formal email also has a simple structure:
 Beginning: the greeting (using titles) and your opening statement.
 Middle: explain the reason for your email.
 End: the closing message and your first and last name.
Example of a formal email (with mistakes) for you to rewrite:
Hello Mr. John,
How are you? Thanks for this opportunity. It’s amazing.
I’m writing to confirm our meeting tomorrow night. Is it ok at 8 pm? I’m gonna be
available only after this time ‘cause I have some other stuff to do.
Talk to you soon.
Bye,
Leonardo.

19. Review
To write a review is to give your opinion about something. It can be about a book, a
movie, a TV show, a restaurant, any place that provided you a service…
It is necessary to present arguments to support your opinion. In this way, the reader can
better understand your point of view. You also should offer some information about what
you are reviewing to give context to the reader.
The activity for this class is to write a review about a movie or a TV series.
In the resources section, there is a worksheet to help you. Use the information you find
online about the movie or TV show to complete it. That will help you to have a clear idea
of what to talk about in each paragraph. There is also an example of how to complete
the worksheet.
Also, here is the structure your review should have:
  Paragraph 1: Include the name of the movie/series, stars, director, basic setting
(time and place), and genre (comedy, adventure, drama, thriller, etc.).
 Paragraph 2: Write a plot summary of the movie/series. Discuss the
movie/series events, but be careful, do not give spoilers!
 Paragraph 3: Discuss some aspects of the movies/series justifying why you like
or dislike it. Be sure you are specific, and you can cite examples of the
movie/series.
 Paragraph 4: Give your overall opinion and reaction to the movie/series. Also,
include your recommendations for potential viewers.
Example of a series review:
“Law and Order SVU (Special Victims Unit)” is one of my favorite TV shows. It is a
drama mixed with mystery and crime. It stars Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, Christopher
Meloni, Kelli Giddish Different, and has different directors.
The series is about the routine of lieutenant Olivia Benson and her squad at the Special
Victims Unit police station in New York City. Also, it shows the stories behind the
crimes. Law and Order SVU is the TV’s longest-running primetime drama (22 seasons),
and it is part of a successful media franchise called Law and Order. There are eight
different shows.
There are two things I like about this series. The first one is the character Olivia Benson
because she is a fierce and very brave woman. The second is all the stories behind the
cases, especially when there is a lot of drama. On the other hand, I do not like when
there are similar stories, but I understand. It is difficult to be always original after many
seasons.
Overall, it is a fantastic series, and you have to watch it if you like a good drama and
police series.

20. Biography
To write a biography is necessary to use the verbs in the third person.
Be careful!
If you are writing about a person who has passed away, you must remember to use all
verbs in the past. If you are writing about a person who is alive, use verbs in the past for
finished actions and verbs in the present for current ones.
Here are some examples of things you can write about in the artist’s biography:
 Occupation
 Nationality
 Birthday
 Family
 Specific information
 Favorites
The activity for this class is to write a biography about an artist of your choice.
In the resources section, there is a worksheet to help you. Use the information you find
online about the artist to complete it. That will help you to have a clear idea of what to
talk about in each paragraph. There is also an example of how to complete the
worksheet.
Also, here is the structure your review should have:
 Paragraph 1: Include the name of your artist, his/her occupation, his/her
nationality, the place, and the date he/she was born.
 Paragraph 2: Write about your artist’s family and personal life. Tell some fun
facts!
 Paragraph 3: Discuss some aspects of your artist’s career and professional life.
Do not forget to mention his/her achievements.
 Paragraph 4: Mention his/her likes and dislikes. Also, talk about your favorites.
 Paragraph 5: Finish saying the date and place of death or what your artist is
doing at present.
Example of a biography:
Michael Jackson was born on August 29th, 1958, in Gary, Indiana. He was an American
singer, songwriter, and dancer.
Michael had five brothers and three sisters, and he was the third-youngest with Randy
and Janet. The Jacksons were poor and lived in a small house with just two bedrooms
for eleven people. Also, he had two pet llamas on his ranch called Lola and Louis.
He was talented, and during his career, he earned 17 Grammys (14 as a solo artist, one
with the Jackson 5). Moreover, he earned 26 American Music Awards, 40 Billboard
Music Awards, and 13 World Music Awards. Additionally, his album, Thriller, was
number one on the Billboard chart for 37 weeks.
Michael liked many things. For example, he loved reading books. His love for books
began as a young teen, and he loved to read Peter Pan. He also liked art: paintings,
classic music, and other things. He liked animals, toys, old castles, and beautiful
Cartoons with a good ending. He disliked journalists, solitude, unfair friends, and rumors
about him. My favorite Michael Jackson’s songs are Your rock my world, The way you
make me feel, and Billie Jean.
He was the best selling artist in the United States for 2009, the year of his death. He
died on June 25th, 2009, in Los Angeles, California. Michael was 50 years old.